Estonian composer Arvo Pärt found his avant-garde approach bringing him into direct conflict with the Soviet authorities in the 1960’s and 1970’s – and stopped composing for nearly a decade. The return of his musical voice marked the beginning of a new style, deeply influenced by ancient music and his conversion to the Russian Orthodox faith. Fratres, composed in 1977, is one of his most striking works of “sacred minimalism”; complex in its simplicity, it sums up the composer’s own statement: ‘the instant and eternity are struggling within us’.

Isak Goldschneider’s Mute Carnival, for solo trumpet and ensemble, is a tribute to the exaggerated emotions and phantasmic images of silent films in days gone by. Melodies and textures flutter by, speak, and disappear. In the end, the music attempts to open the door to silences and forms fading away to emptiness.

The Titanic sank in her maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. 1,517 lives were lost- one of the deadliest disasters in naval history. Composed in 1969 by Gavin Bryars, The Sinking of the Titanic is a performative soundscape recreating reports of a band which played a hymn tune in the final moments of the ship’s sinking. In Bryars’ vision, the band continues to play as the ship sinks to the bottom of the sea, creating a moving tribute to human efforts ultimately conquered by the vastness and complexity of nature.

PAVED Arts would like to acknowledge Affinity Credit Union, Business for the Arts – Artsvest and Lucky Bastard Distillers in their continued support of the Core Series.